570 



NATURE 



\Oct. lo. 1889 



must in large part be conceded. Whilst the earlier 

 development of these faculties may be explained as 

 due to natural selection since some amount of each 

 may well have been an advantage to the primitive 

 man in his struggle for existence, it is yet true that 

 their sudden and rapid development to a very much 

 higher level in civilized communities cannot be traced to 

 the struggle between man and man. It does not, however, 

 follow that, because natural selection will not account for 

 these extraordinary developments of the human brain, 

 therefore we must have recourse to the assumption of 

 supernatural agencies. Mr. Wallace seems so much con- 

 vinced of the importance and capability of the principle 

 of natural selection, that when it breaks down as an ex- 

 planation he loses faith in all natural cause, and has re- 

 course to metaphysical assumption. On the other hand, it 

 must be contended that we know very little of the develop- 

 ment, either in the individual or in various races, of these 

 and other faculties of the mind. The formation of 

 civilized communities has had the result of withdraw- 

 ing the individual man almost entirely from the 

 operation of natural selection. Such selection as still 

 obtains operates by the struggle of communities rather 

 than by that of individuals. Accordingly there is a 

 possibility of the most useless " sports " making their 

 appearance, and even establishing themselves in human 

 communities as hereditary qualities. Mr. Gulick's notion 

 that an initial tendency due to accidental variation can 

 increase and develop in succeeding generations, without 

 reference to the advantage or disadvantage of the species, 

 would assuredly be applicable, if anywhere, to the human 

 mind in communities where individuals are no longer 

 subject to natural selection, or only to a minimal ex- 

 tent, and in relation to a few points of structure. Does 

 the luxuriant development of some Professor's mathe- 

 matical faculty, as compared with the poor numerical 

 conceptions of an Australian black, offer really any 

 greater difficulty of transition than do the 9-feet-long 

 tail feathers of some Japanese barn-door fowls, as com- 

 pared with the shorter feathers of other varieties ? That 

 is a question which can only be answered by a more 

 elaborate analysis of the nature of the qualities compared 

 than has, so far as I know, been hitherto accomplished. 



E. Ray Lankester. 



G ALTON'S AFRICAN TRAVELS. 



Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa; 

 being an Account of a Visit to Damara Land in 1851. 

 By F. Galton. With Vacation Tours in i860 attd 1861, 

 by Sir George Grove, F. Galton, and W. G. Clark. 

 (London : Ward, Lock, and Co., 1889) 



THE editor of the Minerva Library has added Mr. 

 Francis Gallon's " Narrative of an Explorer in 

 Tropical South Africa " to a library consisting only of 

 " works of the most widely-spread and lasting popalarity, 

 which have proved themselves worthy of a permanent 

 place in literature." Had the stamp of popularity not 

 been so precisely insisted upon as a title to admission into 

 this particular series, it might have been his gracious task, 

 now and then, to have rescued from oblivion a stray work 



which had failed to obtain recognition from causes in no 

 way affecting its intrinsic merits. Books of travel, for 

 instance, have often suffered from inopportune publica- 

 tion, and, being out of season, have fallen flat and un- 

 heeded ; whereas, if introduced a quarter of a century 

 later, they would have been welcomed by an expectant 

 public, educated for the occasion. But the condition, as 

 it now stands, relieves the editor from a difficult anc 

 somewhat delicate responsibility, the adequate discharg^j 

 of which might well need the exercise of more than one" 

 man's judgment and experience. Fortunately for the 

 book under notice, it fulfils all the professed requirements 

 of Mr. Eettany's prospectus. It presents quite a model 

 in respect of style, and is essentially the production of a 

 master mind. The writer lucidly recounts his experiences 

 for the instruction as well as entertainment of his readers, 

 and the outcome of his labour is a success to himself and 

 a benefit to his fellows. His narrative is interesting and 

 well sustained ; his descriptive powers are manifestly 

 considerable ; his appreciation of men and things, the 

 animate and inanimate, is admirable ; and he is realistic 

 to the legitimate extent of insuring credence for a record 

 of personal adventure not untinged with romance. 



Independently of these considerations, however, there 

 is another reason why the reproduction of Mr. Gallon's 

 book at the present hour is practically useful. He treats 

 of a particular section of Africa which has hardly received 

 its fair amount of attention from the politicians and 

 geographers of Europe, when discussing the great 

 partition question of the day. The Congo has had the 

 lion's share of solicitude as regards the western coast- 

 line ; while the spirited and intelligent action of the 

 British East African Company, and movements of rival or 

 contemporary Companies, have resulted in throwing, as 

 it were, a broad bright light upon the whole length of 

 eastern sea-board from Guardafui to the Zambesi. Names 

 such as Mombasa and Vitu are becoming familiar as 

 Zanzibar and Mozambique, and the practical effect of 

 Messrs. Johnston and Thomson's successful journeys 

 has been to introduce into our school teaching the true 

 stories of Kilimanjaro and the Masai Land. Below the 

 Congo there has been little demand for information, and 

 consequently little supply. The knowledge that Portugal 

 is owner of the coast-line from the much-coveted mouth 

 of that river to that of the Kunene, has appeared suffi- 

 cient to render Benguela and Mossamedes, with their 

 inland territories and contiguous tracts, matters of 

 secondary interest ; and below Mossamedes nothing but 

 a political embroglio has caused Walfisch Bay and Angra 

 Pequena to emerge from out the haziness of quasi-mythical 

 places. Mr. Gallon's narrative will not only be found instruc- 

 tive in itself, but it cannot fail to lead the uninitiated reader 

 into references and inquiries also full of enlightenment ; 

 and even those who are well up in African geography, 

 and may have read the book on its first appearance, will 

 most probably derive advantage in reverting to its pages. 

 The part of the Dark Continent comprehended in its 

 treatment is from somewhere near the mouth of the 

 Kunene to the mouth of the Orange River, and may be 

 roughly indicated by a figure to which the parallels \f and 

 27° S. latitude give a northern and southern boundary, 

 and the meridians i2°and2o''longitude western and eastern 

 limits. In the appendix much of the exploration of later 



